Biography

I have been at Keele since 2002. My first degree (Msc), in Molecular Biology from the University of Warsaw was followed by the PhD in Neuroscience and habilitation in Neurobiology from the Nencki Institute, Warsaw.

I was working in several scientific institutions in Poland before departing to the U.S (Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and Washington University, St. Louis) before coming to the UK (Cardiff University).

Research and scholarship

A great deal of progress has been made in our understanding of brain function, in recent years, but we still do not know precisely how this organ acquires, stores and recalls information.

A common assumption is, that it is done somehow via changes in synaptic weights and connectivity between neurons (plastic changes). Studying changes in neuronal transmission and connectivity in intact animals during learning it is quite a big task as we usually do not know, where these changes take a place, nor what they mean and whether they are specifically related to learning and memory or not.

Those are the main reasons for studying mechanisms of plastic changes using model systems. For example, the barrel cortex of rodents, where vibrissae are represented. The unique anatomical organisation of this cortical area enables quantitative and very accurate measurement of plasticity induced by change in experience. For instance, due to changing vibrissae complement for some period of time.

My research aims to understand how experience induces neuronal plasticity in the neocortex and how this plasticity is maintained; namely, to discover the physiological mechanisms of synaptic potentiation and depression, how these changes are stabilised during development and the molecules involved. Recently, I am also interested in the mechanisms underlying simple forms of learning that may be induced in the barrel cortex with use of whiskers, synaptic changes driven by circadian rhythms and the consequences of demyelination.